Culture&Environment

Seminar on

Culture and Environment

-Akshat Jain

OBJECTIVE

To realize the importanceof the relationship between culture and environment, which helps us to plan for a

sustainable future…….

Culture is a way of life.-Raymond Williams

Environment(surroundings)

Ecosystem Other surroundings

Culture

Environme

nt

Reciprocating Relationship

Easter Island

The inhabitants faced the crash of their ecosystem.

Excessive cutting of trees to move the huge stone heads to the sites where they were erected ,resulted in soil erosion. The soil get washed away into the sea.

a sad story……….

When a society fails to care for the environment that sustains it,the civilization collapses.

This makes it important for usto understand relationship

between culture and environment.

Some major challenges that need’s to be overcome…

Climate change and global warming

Scientists refer to what has been happening in the earth’s atmosphere over the past century as the “enhanced greenhouse effect.”

By pumping man-made greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, humans are altering the process by which naturally occurring greenhouse gases trap the sun’s heat before it can be released back into space.

CO2 level have risen dramatically since the start of the industrial revolution. Globally, energy-related CO2 emissions have risen approximately 145-fold since 1850 - from 200 million tons to 29 billion tons a year.

Developed countries contribute a lot to global warming:

From 1850 to 2000, the United States and the European Union were responsible for about 60% of CO2 emissions, while China contributed 7% and India 2%.

GHG emission by different sectors

Global average surface temperature has increased by 1.4 °F from 1920 to the present.According to the National Academy of Sciences, this change is the largest global temperature rise in a the last 2,000 years . The sharpest rise occurred between 1975 and 2005, when temperature rose steadily by about 1 °F.

Temperature rise

This figure compares the extent of the summer arctic sea ice in 1979 with the extent of the sea ice in summer 2005. Since 1979, more than 20% of the Polar Ice Cap has melted away in response to increased surface air and ocean temperatures.

Melting of polar ice cap

1.Nutrient loading 2.Pollution3.Climate change4.Habitat change5.Overexploitation

Loss of biodiversity

Nitrogen and phosphorus from the fertilizers can have severe impacts on the environment. The human production of nitrogen has increased sharply since 1960.

Threats to biodiversity

Over the last 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history.

Once a species is extinct itis gone forever…

What will it take to moveour civilization in the direction of long term

sustainable relationship with the natural world?

SustainableFuture

SustainabilityStewardship

Science

Policy and PoliticsGlobalization

Strategic themes Integrative themes

Goal

SustainabilityA process is sustainable if it can be continued indefinitely ,

without depleting any of the material or energy sources required to keep it running.

Many of our acti ons are not sustainable.How to resolve this di lemma?

Sustainable Development

It is a form of development that meet the needs of present without comprising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Special level of dedication and commitment to our natural world is required.

StewardshipStewardship is ethical and moral framework that should inform our public and private actions.

It is an ethic that guides actions taken to benefit the natural world and other people.

Some of the examples include participating fully in recycling efforts, turning off the lights in a empty room, supporting organizations hat promote sustainable practices.

ScienceScience is simply a way of gaining knowledge called scientific method.

A scientific method is used to provide information to promote health of natural systems that sustain societies.

How do a scientific method work?

Formulation of theories

Working of Scientific Method

Supporting HypothesisS

Experiments

Questioning

Observation

With this development in scientific knowledge we developed modern technology but ill effects of modern technologies are threatening sustainability of all beings on this globe.

So now the need of the hour is to develop a technology which will fulfill our requirement but at the same time will not harm our immediate surroundings giving us a sustainable future.

For a sustainable future

Need for an appropriate technology:

Intermediate technology requires improvising on indigenous technology by incorporating sophisticated modern technology .

We may start with existing techniques in traditional industry and to utilize knowledge of advance techniques to transform them suitably.

Production is limited to the level of fulfilling the requirement. There is no extra production. In the process we conserve our energy and raw material.

It makes conservation a way of life!

Keep innovating for a sustainable future……

Special thanks : Guide - Dr. Sukanya Sharma